R Rohit's century helps Lyca Kovai Kings beat Karaikudi Kaalai in the eliminator at Natham

R Rohith’s scored the fastest century in the tournament’s history to help Lyca Kovai Kings defeat Karaikudi Kaalai by four wickets in the eliminator. They advance to the second qualifier in the India Cements Ltd TNPL 2017 and will face Chepauk Super Gillies next.

Rohith scored an unbeaten 102 runs of 46 balls that included eight sixes and six boundaries.

In the first innings, a missed catch almost cost Kovai the game. After winning the toss and putting Karaikudi in to bat in a high-pressure game, Kovai could have gotten off to the perfect start. An in-form S Aniruda was gifted a life as Murali Vijay dropped an absolute sitter while he was just on 15. Aniruda made Kovai pay for that and how. In the following over, he smacked K Vignesh for four boundaries.

Thamarai Kannan did pick up Vishal Vaidhya early but V Aadithya and Aniruda combined together and scored an 82 run partnership of 51 balls. Aniruda scored 79 runs which included five huge hits and ten boundaries.

Kannan finally got Kovai a much-needed break through as he picked up Aniruda’s wicket. Aditya followed suit in the next over as could only pick out fielder at long-on. Karaikudi had another great partnership as Badrinath and Shajahan had an unbeaten partnership of 74 runs that just came of 48 runs. In a high-pressure game, Karaikudi set Kovai a mammoth 194 runs to win.

Mohan Prasath put Karaikudi on top early in the game as he removed the in-form Suryapprakash and Anirudh Sita Ram cheaply. Murali Vijay and R Rohith steadied the ship with a 68-run partnership of just 38 balls.

A brilliant direct hit from Vishal Vaidhya at cover saw him removing the dangerous Vijay. A few quick wickets saw Karaikudi always in the game but Rohith played a blinder of a knock and kept his siding within touching distance through the game.

He brought up his 50 of 23 balls and kept rotating the strike. With a steady head, he guided his side into the next round while smashing back to back sixes to seal a berth in the qualifiers and to get the quickest century in the TNPL.

Brief scores: Karaikudi Kaalai 193/3 in 20 overs (S Aniruda 79, 36b, 10x4, 5x6; S Badrinath 42, 25b, 5x4, 1x6; Gowtham Thamarai Kannan 2/31, B Arun 1/26) beat Lyca Kovai Kings 194/6 in 19 overs (R Rohith 102, 45b, 6x4, 8x6, Murali Vijay 29, 22b, 4x4; Mohan Prasath 2/18, Sonu Yadav 2/28) by 4 wickets

Awards

‘Sankar Super Power’ Maximum Sixes Award: R Rohith (Lyca Kovai Kings)

‘Krishna Mines Super White’ Fours Award: S Aniruda (Karaikudi Kaalai)

‘Krishna Mines’ Super Bowler of the Match: Mohan Prasath (Karaikudi Kaalai)

‘Equitas Funtastic’ Player of the Match: S Aniruda (Karaikudi Kaalai)

'Tekplay Strategic' Player of the Match: R Rohith (Lyca Kovai Kings)

‘India Cements’ Man of the Match: R Rohith (Lyca Kovai Kings)

‘Tata Gluco+’ Energiser: R Rohith (Lyca Kovai Kings)